Every family has a black sheep or crazy uncle hidden away, and ants are no different. Their crazy relative is, however, actually has the word crazy in their name. These would be crazy ants, or Nylanderia. They range in color from pale yellow to black, and the size of a sesame seed and are covered in spiky hairs that make them look kind of like baby birds. For ants, these guys are rather adorable, despite their being major household pests. Due to their tiny size, they can squeeze into just about any crack, making them excellent at invading people’s homes.
Crazy ants are the farthest thing from picky that exists in the insect world. They will nest anywhere they can find a handy nook or cranny to squeeze into and snuggle into their tiny home as if it was meant to be. They will also eat pretty much anything including sweet foods like honeydew, our disgusting trash, and even other small insects. These easy-to-please insects are masterful invasive pests. They aren’t fussy and are the ultimate party crashers of the ant kingdom. Once crazy ants have decided to settle inside your home, they will be the epitome of a bad houseguest, eating all of the food they can find and then making tons of babies in their spare time. They can amass a huge worker population this way and eventually take all the resources away from other ant species. Their ability to reach such huge populations can make them go from being a nuisance to a serious problem. There have been cases of crazy ants becoming so large in number that they overran the human structures they had invaded. They literally take over the very party they have crashed.
Since crazy ants can nest pretty much anywhere they can find a nook or cranny to squeeze inside, they can nest in locations all over your house including inside electrical boxes. They can cause you serious electrical problems if a whole group of them piles into your electrical box. People have opened their electrical boxes to find filled with tens of thousands of electrocuted ants. And when these ants get hungry, things can get ugly. When they get low on sugar, crazy ants can become very aggressive, swinging punches at the closest bastard unlucky enough to be around.
Have you ever found crazy ants inside your house?
